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A Hatton-Brown Publication
Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. Street Address: 225 Hanrick Street Montgomery, AL 36104-3317 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2268 Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 Telephone: 334.834.1170 FAX: 334.834.4525
Volume 46 • Number 9 • October 2021 Founded in 1976 • Our 478th Consecutive Issue
Publisher: David H. Ramsey Chief Operating Officer: Dianne C. Sullivan Editor-in-Chief: Rich Donnell Senior Editor: Dan Shell Senior Associate Editor: David Abbott Senior Associate Editor: Jessica Johnson Associate Editor: Patrick Dunning Publisher/Editor Emeritus: David (DK) Knight Art Director/Prod. Manager: Cindy Segrest Ad Production Coordinator: Patti Campbell Circulation Director: Rhonda Thomas Online Content/Marketing: Jacqlyn Kirkland Classified Advertising: Bridget DeVane • 334.699.7837 800.669.5613 • bdevane7@hotmail.com Advertising Sales Representatives: Southern USA Randy Reagor P.O. Box 2268 Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 904.393.7968 • FAX: 334.834.4525 E-mail: reagor@bellsouth.net
Renew or subscribe on the web: www.timberprocessing.com
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NEWSFEED
Arizona Phase 2 Plan Screeches To A Halt
M.C. DIXON LUMBER
Alabama Sawmill Keeps Up The Pace
PAUL JONES LUMBER
Experience Pays Off For Maryland Mill
ELEMENT5 CLT
Photo Essay Of CLT Facility Startup
GLOBAL MACHINERY
Doing Business At Home And Abroad
LOG HANDLING
Anthony Likes Its New Equipment
BANDMILL RESAW
Honing In On The Perfect Cut
COVER: M.C. Dixon Lumber is running a new canter and profiling line at
its SYP mill in Eufaula, Ala. PAGE 14. (Photo courtesy of Cone-Omega) Inset, Paul Jones Lumber counts on its new Volvo wheel loader to handle bigger logs at Snow Hill, Md. PAGE 22. (Photo by Jill Jasuta, as appeared on the Worchester County Economic Development web site.)
Midwest USA, Eastern Canada John Simmons 32 Foster Cres. Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 905.666.0258 • FAX: 905.666.0778 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com
VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.timberprocessing.com Member Verified Audit Circulation
Western USA, Western Canada Tim Shaddick 4056 West 10th Avenue Vancouver BC Canada V6L 1Z1 604.910.1826 • FAX: 604.264.1367 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca Kevin Cook 604.619.1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com
International Murray Brett 58 Aldea de las Cuevas, Buzon 60 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain Tel: +34 96 640 4165 • + 34 96 640 4048 E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net
Timber Processing (ISSN 0885-906X, USPS 395-850) is published 11 times annually (monthly except Jan./Feb.) by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscription Information—TP is free to qualified owners, operators, managers, purchasing agents, supervisors, foremen and other key personnel at sawmills, pallet plants, chip mills, treating plants, specialty plants, lumber finishing operations, corporate industrial woodlands officials and machinery manufacturers and distributors in the U.S. All non-qualified U.S. Subscriptions are $55 annually: $65 in Canada; $95 (Airmail) in all other countries (U.S. Funds). Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds). Subscription Inquiries— TOLL-FREE: 800-6695613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.timberprocessing.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Timber Processing magazine are accepted and published by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. neither endorse nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Timber Processing. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed in U.S.A.
Postmaster: Please send address changes to Timber Processing, P.O. Box 2419, Montgomery, Alabama 36102-2419 Other Hatton-Brown publications: Timber Harvesting • Southern Loggin’ Times Wood Bioenergy • Panel World • Power Equipment Trade
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THEISSUES
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Dan Shell Senior Editor
FS ‘REASSESSMENT’ RUNS FIRE RISK
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erhaps it was the 20-year lifespan of the contract, or maybe it was yet another fire season that scorched half a million acres in the state: What if we can’t deliver the timber that we promise? What if there are court cases? What if a big chunk of it just burns up? In mid September, in the midst of yet another smoky fire season, with a groundbreaking 20-year Phase 2 project contract award announcement in the offing after almost two years of delays, officials with the U.S. Forest Service’s (FS) 4 Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI) in Arizona instead announced a resounding: Let’s re-think this. As ambitious a goal as the FS has ever embraced, the 4FRI seeks to improve forest health on more than 2.5 million acres across four Arizona national forests. A Phase 1 contract was awarded in 2012; the larger and longer Phase 2 contract was scheduled for release in 2019, but a dozen modifications —and the COVID pandemic—kept delaying the process. However, the various stakeholders and bidders felt fairly confident that the contract award was finally forthcoming in September. You’d think “performance risk” concerns would have come up before now, with a Phase 1 contract being worked for years. Yet after all the work that went into the 4FRI Phase 2 Request for Proposal process, and the substantial resources spent by the bidders, the FS decided that “The requirements for meeting the restoration objectives are not reasonably aligned to industry needs. In addition, significant financial and investment risks remain which ultimately represents a performance risk to the Government.” With that in mind, the FS decided that a new solicitation of some kind reflecting these realities would need to be prepared. Perhaps getting it right is better than moving ahead with such concerns, if the FS can indeed get it right. The Phase 2 project was so large that any mistake was bound to be a big one: A five-year timber harvest plan included in the original Phase 2 RFP identified 101 projects on 203,000 acres estimated to produce 1.097 billion BF in logs and 152 million cubic feet of biomass that must be removed or handled and reduced on site. And that’s just the first five years. Developing the infrastructure to process such a large amount of raw material requires a huge investment and an ironclad (as much as possible, this is the government after all) commitment to providing resources. As Phase 2 bidder John Godfrey of Godfrey Forest Products noted, if it takes more time to get it right, then that’s what it takes. The project and its goals are worth it. And the agency is under tremendous pressure to not let this rest—the Arizona governor and the state’s two U.S. senators severely criticized the cancellation. In the last 10 years wildland fires torched 2.2 million acres in Arizona, and in the next 20 years there’s sure to be countless dry lightning thunderclouds rolling across at-risk 4FRI landscapes. Getting it right is smart, but time is truly of the TP essence here, as wildfire waits for no plan, process or reassessment.
Contact Dan Shell, ph: 334-834-1170; fax 334-834-4525; e-mail: dan@hattonbrown.com TIMBER PROCESSING
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NEWSFEED FS CANCELS 4FRI PHASE 2 Anxious bidders for the Phase 2 contract that’s part of the federal 4 Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI) seeking to treat and improve forest health conditions on more than 2.5 million acres across four Arizona national forests were told to wait a while longer after U.S. Forest Service (FS) officials abruptly cancelled the Phase 2 Request for Proposal (RFP) process in mid-September. The Forest Service cited “performance risk” concerns over the proposed 20-year life of the Phase 2 stewardship contract that covers more than 500,000 acres. The Phase 2 contract award announcement had been delayed several times since 2019 due to a dozen contract
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modifications. An FS release concerning the cancellation says, “The requirements for meeting the restoration objectives (as currently defined in the RFP) are not reasonably aligned to industry needs. In addition, significant financial and investment risks remain which ultimately represents a performance risk to the Government.” In so many words, over a 20-year period what happens if FS timberlands dedicated to the project are somehow made unavailable due to fire damage or administrative withdrawal? How does the FS replace those resources and how are Phase 2 investors to be placated or compensated? The FS statement added, “It is in the best interest of the Government to thoroughly reassess the requirement so that any new solicitation issued would better address all risks
to offerors and the Government, including financial and investment risks.” Such a reassessment may include further modifications in such areas as “Economic Price Adjustment requirements; acreage and volume of material to be offered; biomass treatment requirements; road maintenance requirements; and cancellation ceiling,” the statement says. News of the cancellation brought outcries from several stakeholders, including politicians and others. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey slammed the decision, as well as several elected officials who emphasized the importance of forest health to the state. John Godfrey, owner of Godfrey Forest Products and a panel industry veteran who has developed several OSB plants, was a bidder on Phase 2 and proposed to build a
state-of-the-art 850MMSF OSB plant as the centerpiece of the company’s small log and biomass conversion plan to execute the contract. He says the announcement came as a surprise, but he’s confident any issues will be resolved. The FS is committed to forest restoration, Godfrey believes. “They’re also under tremendous pressure. They’ll come forward with a new mechanization or proposal, but just what remains to be seen. It can’t be that nothing happens.” Godfrey plans to stay the course with the RFP process, even if it takes some time. He already has a site picked out near Winslow and has an engineering design ready. “It’s a great place to build a mill,” Godfrey says. “It’s in the middle of a big market. It’s also meaningful to be part of
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NEWSFEED the forest restoration and fire reduction and preserving the water supply. There’s no reason to throw this away.” The Phase 2 setback continues a tough run for the 4FRI effort: Phase 1, initially awarded in 2012 then transferred in 2013 to its current owner NewLife Forest Restoration, has been hampered due to lack of logging and conversion capacity and is just now appearing to turn the corner on infrastructure needs while the number of acres actually treated remain well below initial projections. NewLife, which is in the process of installing a sawmill at Bellemonte, Ariz., was apparently the other major bidder for the Phase 2 contract. A big sticking point in operating the Phase 1 contract (and the same for Phase 2) is a lack of biomass markets in the state, and the overall 4FRI
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will continue producing mountains of the low-quality material. There’s only one dedicated biomass power producer in Arizona, Novo Power, which has been involved in utilizing material produced in ongoing forest health operations in the White Mountains area, but at 24 MW can only take so much. Novo Power participated in both of the two major bids as the procurer of the biomass byproduct produced by the sawmill and/or OSB facility. The Arizona commission overseeing utilities in 2019 voted down a proposal to require utilities to purchase power from sustainable sources, and a promising plan to potentially convert an existing coal-fired power station that was being closed was shelved as a result. Novo Power President Brad Worsley says the RFP
process has also had a chilling effect on developing collaborative solutions since the FS required so many involved to sign non-disclosure agreements. Future planning has also been affected, he says, with the uncertainty the RFP process has caused. Novo Power has less than two years remaining on two key offtake contracts for utilities to buy power, but the RFP process has complicated efforts to finalize extensions. “At this point, we need resolution on our PPAs so that we can move forward, invest and maintain the critical employee base that we have today,” Worsley says. “We will support whatever comes in the future—but our future needs certainty now.” While the Phase 1 4FRI stewardship contract was to treat more than 300,000 acres over 10 years, the Phase 2
discussion initially covered more than 800,000 acres and a 20-year contract, then was reduced to 600,000 acres upon the request for proposals and again reduced to 520,000 acres. Funding for such forest health and forest fire prevention programs and contracts is included the Biden administration $1 trillion infrastructure plan that has passed the U.S. Senate and is before the House of Representatives.
NEW LIFE STARTS UP EWP OPERATION NewLife Forest Restoration has ramped up production at its new engineered wood products plant in Bellemont, Ariz., while also increasing forest restoration work in service of its 4 Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI)
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NEWSFEED Phase 1 Forest Service stewardship contract that seeks to thin and treat more than 300,000 acres at risk of wildfire on the Kaibab, Coconino, ApacheSitgreaves and Tonto national forests. At Bellemont, the operation is currently processing low grade cants into 1 in. lumber that’s chopped and fingerjointed and a portion is edge-glued and/or faceglued, while using structural and nonstructural glues depending on the appli-
NewLife processes cants into boards at its EWP operation.
cation, according to Ted Dergousoff, CEO of NewLife. They are presently using cants because the sawmill with log breakdown hasn’t been built yet. The EWP operation is part of a much larger 425,000 sq. ft. formerly vacated facility (10 acres under one roof) that New Life purchased in 2020. It is divided into three sections—one for the currently operating EPW plant, and the other two for the sawmill and planer mill to be built. Dry kilns will also be located on the grounds. The operation has rail access and is situated on I-40. NewLife reports it has designed the scale of the plant to accommodate upgrading products, not just from its own mills, but also from other operators in the area. In this way, many parties can work together on forest restoration, enabling the industry to scale up in the state. Dergousoff expects NewLife’s multiple operations to be fully built by the end of 2022. The sawmill will have an annual production capacity of 120MMBF, 100% ponderosa pine, with emphasis on boards (both solid and engineered) and low grade specialty solid items. The sawmill will handle a mix of large and small logs, and its plan to maximize value will help offset costs incurred processing and handling the large amounts of biomass the contract is generating. Awarded the Phase 1 contract in 2013, NewLife (formerly known as Good Earth Power) had struggled initially considering the state’s timber infrastructure had almost disappeared following federal timber sale cutbacks in the 1980s and ’90s, and the company was starting from scratch in setting up harvesting and processing capacity. NewLife had initially planned a greenfield sawmill at a site in Williams, Ariz., but switched to Bellemont after a large former paper products finishing industrial building became available. NewLife reports it has tripled the size of its forest restoration operations in 10
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NEWSFEED light of these developments with three forest thinning crews now active and a fourth crew mobilizing. Each crew is capable of restoring 2,000-2,500 acres per year. NewLife plans to gradually increase to 25,000-plus acres of restoration capacity over the next 18-24 months as it completes installations at Bellemonte. NewLife and its partners are operating a total of nine harvesting crews in Arizona with a combined capacity of
20,000 acres per year. In 2023, they will ramp up to more than 17 forest restoration crews with more than 40,000 acres per year of restoration capacity. The company and its partners plan to hire more than 300 skilled workers across manufacturing and forest harvesting in the next 12 months. The 4FRI is a groundbreaking forest health effort seeking to reduce wildfire risk on 2.4 million acres across four Ari-
zona national forests. “I do think that the only way that forest restoration can work is with a vertically integrated process,” Dergousoff says, emphasizing NewLife’s capabilities “to make it all work in unison with a goal to maximize value.”
IFG IS CLOSING TRICON TIMBER Officials with Idaho Forest Group announced at the end of August the closure of its St. Regis, Mont. sawmill in late November. The company had acquired the mill in 2017 from Tricon Timber. A post on IFG’s web site from August 2019 noted the company had added a sprinkler system, replaced some older equipment and was converting the mill to an 8 ft. operation with other projects in the works. However, according to news reports of the closure announcement, the facility had not met production targets in the past year despite high lumber prices and had been having trouble finding employees.
Loss of Tricon sawmill will be felt in the area.
Company officials say the hot lumber market helped mask some of the issues at St. Regis, but with prices now falling, IFG officials say the mill isn’t cost competitive and the decision was made to close the operation. The facility employed 99 on site and had a big multiplier effect in western Montana supporting logging, truck driving and local economy jobs. IFG operates six sawmills in Idaho and is building a new sawmill in Mississippi that’s scheduled to start up in 2022. More Newsfeed on page 56
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NEWSFEED
BIEWER-WINONA COMING ALONG Biewer Lumber’s second SYP sawmill in Mississippi is on pace to start up in the first quarter of next year. BID Group is performing turnkey construction, equipment delivery and installation at the site in Winona, which is in the north central section of Mississippi. The new sawmill will be similar to the one Biewer Lumber started up in Newton, Miss. in 2017. Biewer Lumber is based in St. Clair, Mich. and operates two sawmills in Michigan and two in Wisconsin. Photos here were taken in mid-September and are courtesy of Biewer Lumber.
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MAKING
HEADWAY By Patrick Dunning
Dixon Lumber’s new Cone-Omega line was installed around its existing line so that lumber production continued during a strong market.
Alabama timbers mill underwent a sawmill upgrade in face of a health crisis and market frenzy.
M. EUFAULA, Ala.
C. Dixon Lumber Co. reinvented itself twice this past decade— first as a matter of survival and second to remain competitive. Initially navigating the 2008 financial crisis and a two-year shutdown/conversion to a small log line for mostly timbers production, Dixon Lumber more recently modernized its planer mill and sawmill while eclipsed by a global pandemic and the hottest 14
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markets in the history of the softwood lumber business. The nearly $30 million capital expenditure was split into two phases, beginning in June 2019 with the planer mill renovation that included a six-roller Miller (BID Group) planer, then revolving to the sawmill enhancement with a Cone-Omega
profiling canter sideboard chip-n-saw line, which was completed in July 2021. Bob Dixon, Jr., president, engaged several equipment suppliers under the umbrella of Timber Automation. “We engaged Timber Automation for the turnkey project, bought some of our handling equipment from Baxley and the
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line came from Cone-Omega. Optimization came from Nelson Bros. and VAB. SmartMill provided some equipment as well,” Dixon says. “We’re happy with every bit of it.”
HANDS ON DECK General Manager Jeff Whitfield says that constructing the Cone-Omega line was an undertaking with minimal downtime, and in both phases, the Miller planer line and Cone-Omega line were constructed around each mill’s existing lines to continue producing lumber. “It took about four to five years off my lifespan,” Whitfield laughs. “It was hectic because we had construction crews working shoulder to shoulder with our guys. The total amount of downtime was less than a week, which is amazing to pull off especially building a new mill inside another one. We did some threeday weekends on several occasions for some tie-in stuff. It’s amazing not to have lost any more time during that construction process, and we did it safely with no accidents.” Dixon brags on Whitfield, emphasizing the benefits of being able to expand the Eufaula mill and capture the market simultaneously. “We struck a deal on the new (Cone-Omega) line when the pandemic hit and we thought the world was coming to an end. We had just committed to about 12 million more dollars and thought we’d made a grave mistake,” Dixon recalls. “We were very fortunate,
General Manager Jeff Whitfield, left, and Bob Dixon, Jr., president.
The capital expenditure projects increased production 10% to 75MMBF annually, running one shift now instead of two. TIMBER PROCESSING
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with Jeff and his team, to be able to build this new line around our existing line and still run the old line which helped us produce through the market rising last year. It was extremely beneficial for us.”
NEW FOCUS
The planer mill upgrade was completed in December 2019.
Majority of the company’s dried lumber goes to treating markets.
Dixon Lumber accepts 65-80 loads per day, targeting logs with a 9-14 in. butt and 5 in. top.
Dixon recalls the ’08 recession and its correlation to the curtailments he experienced right before lumber prices reached an all-time high of $1,515 per MBF in May 2021. “You pull every dime you had tucked away and put it in the company to keep it floating, that’s what you do,” Dixon says of the company’s revival in 2010. “In the fourth quarter 2019 and early 2020 the lumber market was really down. Most of the big companies and mills curtailed 30%.” Whitfield adds, “It hit rock bottom over a two-week course and that’s when they started sending people home. People had all this time on their hands and couldn’t go on vacation, so they started remodeling their houses and spending money on their backyards and the market took off and never turned back.” M. C. Dixon Lumber was traditionally a large log mill, producing wide dimensions for house framing and some 5 ¼ decking. Dixon believes he was one of the first owners in the South to cease his company’s production entirely in 2008, knowing his business would have to switch from housing markets to supplying industrial markets to survive. “We looked around and said what can we do to get out of this housing market and into outdoor living products, like fences, decking and docks,” Dixon reflects. “We put that small log mill (Cone Machinery four-sided canter installed in 2010) in and we are a continuation of that now. More, newer technology gives us the flexibility to make other products. We can make timbers, decking, boards, anything we want to and more efficiently. We’re still staying away from the framing business, that’s the big guys.”
MILL FLOW To date, Dixon Lumber has increased production 10% after completing its modernization projects, now producing 75MMBF annually and running one shift instead of two. Dixon says the key driver was being able to produce more lumber in a single shift. Dixon Lumber accepts 65-80 loads (sourced predominately from Alabama and Georgia) per day within a 70-mile 16
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All employees are enrolled in a bonus program that includes incentives for production and safety.
radius. Ninety-nine percent of logs received are gatewood, targeting a 9-14 in. butt and 5 in. top. Trucks are weighed on Toledo scales and unloaded at the log yard by a Progress Industries crane. Logs are sorted by a 595B Barko loader at the log deck and proceed through an A8 Nicholson debarker. A five-saw LogPro merchandiser cuts up logs that are then kicked to a slick deck by a LogPro rotary kicker and travel through a MDI TWA2000-HD metal detector. Logs are scanned by Nelson Brothers scanners, then rotated at the ConeOmega quad log turner and proceed to the Cone-Omega log breakdown line. More NB scanning follows before coming to the canter and profiler. It provides the option of profiling two boards on each side, and then proceeds through the
saw section. Those trimmer-ready boards drop out and the cant moves to a 4-6 in. VSA quad saw box, which has the ability to saw the top and bottom boards or utilize the entire cant. The profiler and VSA saws all have 150 in. kerf. Saws are filed locally by Joel Moon, while the mill maintains an IMW saw guide grinder from Burton Saw. VSA saw brands include Burton Saw and knives are from Cortex. Lumber proceeds from a Baxley floor chain to a Baxley unscrambler, SmartMill lug loader, VAB scanner/optimizer, and pass through a Baxley trimmer and into a 29-bay Baxley sorter, and Moco stacker. In the planer mill a new ASM tilt hoist indexes boards bound for the Miller planer. The $8.5 million investment also included a VAB lumber grader, Signode
strapping system and SmartMill package maker. Dixon Lumber contracted TriDelta Systems LLC, Abbeville, for the sevenmonth planer project having worked with them during the previous shutdown. On site are three steam-powered Teaford batch kilns, two double track and one single track. The two doubletrack kilns hold 135MBF each and the single-track kiln holds 65MBF. To reach 19% moisture content, 6x6s take on average 42 hours to dry. 4x6s take 34 hours and 4x4s near 31 hours. Dixon Lumber is looking at purchasing new kilns by the end of 2021. Bark and sawdust powers a Wellons boiler and chips are hauled to GeorgiaPacific in Cedar Springs, Ga. and WestRock, Cottonton. Majority of the company’s dried lumber goes to treating markets.
SOLID TEAM
When Dixon Lumber replaced its headrig and carriage with a small log canter line in 2010, the company had nearly 175 employees. Currently, M. C. Dixon runs a tight ship, employing 75. All employees are in a bonus program which includes production and safety incentives. Dixon believes his company’s strength is their people. “Our fortune is our people. We have a stable workforce from management down to our hourly employees. What we think we do better is involve every employee in the business itself, let them buy in and understand they are part of the process,” he says. “They get to make decisions in the operation of the business and enjoy the profits from a bonus standpoint. The key is to make them feel like they are part of the process. They make decisions that affect the business whether good or bad.” Ralph Baker was hired by Dixon’s grandfather 62 years ago and handles the company’s books as the personnel and corporate accountant. Margie Philips, controller, has been with the company 25 years. Jeff’s son, Jacob Whitfield, 28, has been going through a management training program and will be part of Dixon Lumber’s sales department “We’re very small compared Bottom row from left to right: Amy Carr, accounting; Lynn Ward, office assistant; Margie Phillips, con- to other mills. We’re just a famitroller; Beverly Smith, accounting. Top row from left to right: Bob Dixon, Jr., president; Bert Campbell, ly business,” Dixon says. “We pride ourselves on people and sales; Humberto Guzman, sawmill supervisor; Nick Jones, dry kiln operator/shipping supervisor; being flexible and adaptable. We Ralph Baker, personnel and corporate accounting; Jeremy Hopper, purchasing agent/maintenance planning; Ben Horton, planer mill supervisor; Jacob Whitfield, sales; Davey Blackmon, scaler; Stephen can change on a dime, that’s how Parmer, procurement manager; Jeff Whitfield, general manager TP we survive.” 18
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MANY
LIFETIMES
By David Abbott
The Pusey family is the fourth generation at the helm of Paul M. Jones Lumber Co., where employees also tend to stick around for the long haul. 22
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SNOW HILL, Md. f late, Kenny Pusey, President of Paul M. Jones Lumber Co., has found himself sharing a simple observation with his wife: “I tell her we are looking more through the rear view mirror than the front windshield now.” That may be true—they’ve spent most of their adult lives at the mill, and raised their children there. But the company, which traces its roots back more than a century, undoubtedly still has a lot of road left in front of it. The fourth generation, already in place, will see to that. Pusey married into the Jones family; his wife Barbara is a granddaughter of the man who became the patriarch of the family business. Paul M. Jones, Sr. founded his company in 1918 with a portable steam mill in the woods; the family’s connection to forest products goes back even further. “We have an ox yoke that was his father’s,” Kenny says. “So he was connected with a very primary wood industry.” Jones, Sr. started a stationary mill sometime in the 1920s on the site where the modern mill still operates today. By the time Kenny Pusey originally started working at the mill, his future father-inlaw, Paul Jones, Jr., was in charge. Kenny was 17 then, still in high school. He went on to earn a two-year degree at Allegheny College in Cumberland, Md., and a bachelor’s in wood science from West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va. Pusey came to work for Paul Jones, Jr., full time in 1984, after he and Jones’ daughter Barbara were married. “Before then, we had moved to Nebraska for a few years,” he recalls. Their oldest son Hunter was born in February ’84 and they moved home to Snow Hill in October that year. They’ve remained ever since. When Paul Jones, Jr., died in 1991, Kenny took on the task of running the day-to-day operations for his mother-in-law, Helen Jones, until her death in 2015. Since then, Kenny and Barbara have been the third-generation owners. Their sons, Hunter, 37, and Logan, 33, are an integral part of the business, Kenny says. Hunter followed in his dad’s academic footsteps, obtaining a degree in wood science from Virginia Tech. He then worked at Southern Lumber & Millwork Corp., a wood products manufacturing and retail operation in Charleston, SC, before joining his family business nine years ago. Younger brother Logan got his associate’s degree in mechanical engineering from Delaware Tech. He now oversees preventative maintenance at the mill. Kenny and Barbara have a third son, Kyle, who worked at the mill in high school then got a physician assistant degree
Photo by Jill Jasuta, as appeared on the Worchester County Economic Development web site.
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Despite COVID-related delays in the supply chain, Paul Jones Lumber successfully installed a new USNR dry kiln in March this year.
at Duke University; he now works at a hospital in Zebulon, NC.
LONG TIMERS It isn’t just the owners who have a multigenerational heritage at Paul Jones Lumber; there’s more than one family in this family business. Many employees are also second and third generation. Loyalty and longevity are hallmarks here. “What we lack in shiny new equipment, we make up for in lots of experience,” Hunter Pusey says. A good example is sawyer Calvin Trader. He’s 65, though you wouldn’t know it to look at him. After more than 45 years here, his outlook on the only job he’s ever had is nothing but positive. “My dad worked here; he made a good living and people treated him right, so I said I’d give it a try,” Trader recollects. “I’ve been here ever since. They always told me if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life; I love my job and I have never had to work a day in my life.” Trader has no plans to retire any time soon. “I love doing it and they will have to take this job away from me; I’m not going to give it to them!” Trader isn’t the only multigenerational long timer here. Mark Bradford, log yard foreman, is another example of a second generation employee; his dad worked here until he retired. And many of the supervisors have spent their entire careers in the business, some entirely here and some elsewhere. In total, the management team has more than 300 years of combined work experience in the industry.
They also added a Verticut package saw in May.
NEW IRON COVID-related delays created challenges but could not hold the company back from making upgrades in the last 18 months. Paul Jones Lumber added a new 24
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The Pusey family: Logan, Kenny, Barbara and Hunter
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Logs are sorted and merchandized on the yard.
Volvo wheel loader in 2020 that Hunter says has dramatically improved production on the log yard. And they installed a new USNR kiln in March 2021. When Timber Processing visited in May, Logan and his team were putting the finishing touches on a new Verticut package saw machine from L-M Equipment in British Columbia. It will run as needed to make specialty cuts. “The startup on the new dryer was really smooth,” Kenny says, but the construction was tough because of the ongoing pandemic. “Everybody has been facing the same problem: Deadlines were
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The headrig has been here about 30 years, and its operator for 45.
no longer in existence. When we first started it was going to be July, then it ended up being a September start; everything got backed up. It wasn’t USNR’s fault; it was the whole pipeline.” It wasn’t just delivery delays, either. Permits are always hard to pull, Hunter notes, but after COVID, even getting into the courthouse became a problem. “People working at the places don’t have full staff and when people are working from home you just can’t get an answer. You would think with emails things would go smoother but that is not always the case.” Travel restrictions across the border
from Canada presented another obstacle. “Normally they would send people down to help with the install on-site, from early on in the process,” Logan points out. “But no one was here at the start or the finish.” Instead, manufacturer reps have walked his team through the process with phone calls, emails and picture texts. “Their customer service people are really great,” Logan says. “Some things do get lost in translation when someone’s not here in person, so thank God for the cell phone pictures.” Markets have been good this year, but that’s not why the Paul Jones Lumber
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team opted to upgrade. “You really want to invest before the market is good so you can roll when it is good,” Hunter advises. “A lot of these decisions were not made when the market was good. It takes a long time, like with the kiln, it was over a year from the initial conversations with USNR before that thing was up and running.” Kenny adds, “The key is investing in your people and equipment when the market is not so good so when the market is good you can capitalize on it.” Though primarily a timbers mill, Paul Jones also produces piling material. “We
have always sawn lumber, but piling in the beginning was the bread and butter and the sawmill was almost secondary,” Hunter says. “Over the years that has flip-flopped.” The intent behind adding a second dry kiln was to meet customer demand for dried piling.
MILL FLOW A Liebherr 934 unloads trucks, while a Volvo 180 wheel loader sorts incoming treelength logs to different piles on the log yard according to size. A log yard
worker checks for quality and size and marks each log to be cut up at a Hitachi loader. Bucked logs are moved again via wheel loader to a new pile, waiting for the mill to process that size group. A Volvo loads the infeed deck, where logs pass through a Cambio 26 in. ring debarker. The Cambio primarily feeds the mill, but when they need to process logs bigger than 26 in., a dual-purpose Morbark peeler comes into play to debark logs up to 44 in. “We bought her as a piling peeler, but she also debarks big logs,” Hunter says. People aren’t the only ones in it for the long haul at Paul Jones Lumber; many of the machines are vintage, too, and like their operators, still going strong. The headrig, a Walker-Wheland vertical band mill on HMC carriage, came from Georgia’s Tolleson Lumber in the early ’90s. An Allis-Chalmers resaw was built sometime between 1899 and 1901, Kenny says. A man in Canada helps them fabricate the parts they need for it. At the headrig, Trader makes two passes to square up cants and then sends it either directly to a Valley gang/edger combo or to the resaw and then from there to the gang, depending on what dimension is being produced. The mill is set up to cut timbers. The butt logs and second logs are cut for specific customer orders with sizes ranging from 3x6 to 12x12, lengths from 4 ft. to 30 ft. and everything in between. Tops of trees are cut into common commodity sizes including 4x4, 6x6, and 8x8 and are sold as they are produced. Sideboards are manufactured into 5/4x4 and 5/4x 6 and sent to a sling sorter. The mill has two kilns, a 21-year-old 40 ft. Coe and the new USNR 52 ft. unit. Combined, the kilns have a drying capacity of about 450MBF. Some customers have green applications but 99% of the production is kiln dried. On the dry end, two planers, a Yates American A2012 and Stetson Ross A4A, handle finishing duties and pass the product on to a HEMCO (USNR) 44 bay sorter. In the filing room a Volmer RC 110 handles benching, flattening, tensioning and straightening of band saws. The mill uses a 12 in. width band saw on the headrig and 10 in. bands on the horizontal, .078 gauge from Oleson Saw. Circle saws go out to Alderman’s in Warsaw, Va.
MARKETS The Puseys buy standing timber and supplement it with gatewood, hiring a contract logger to cut standing timber that a staff forester procures. Their week28
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Paul Jones is primarily a timbers mill.
ly target is to saw around 240,000 ft. of logs. “We build up inventory in the fall to get ahead of winter because the wet season is going to knock you down,” Kenny says. “In the winter you try to keep about two months ahead. In the summer you try to keep maybe a week of inventory ahead.” Paul Jones Lumber produced about 12MMBF last year. Customers for Paul Jones Lumber include primarily domestic treatment facilities. “The domestic market has been strong for about 18 months, all this year and last year combined,” Kenny reports. “The industry before this year was not doing real good before COVID-19. There are pros and cons to everything and the wood industry has definitely seen benefits in this pandemic when other industries have seen the opposite.” The export market, meanwhile, has not been a big piece of the puzzle, not for a while at least. It has been in the past: to the UK and Germany, to Egypt and elsewhere. The demand hasn’t been as strong for the last few years, but some signs seem to hint at a comeback of late. “We’ve had calls and there have been inquiries,” Kenny says. “But we’ve been so busy with the domestic market that we can’t do all things. You dread not being able to service it because it’s one of the fingers of the hand.” Although it doesn’t directly impact their business, it has been interesting for Kenny to observe the growth in the housing market and the rise in lumber prices this year. “In my 30 years of running this thing I have never seen it like this. Some have compared it to 1946 with the big housing boom after World War II, but I wasn’t even born then. This is the first lumber boom I have ever witnessed. I have seen spikes but never like this.” Still, he has reminded his sons that the old adage, “This too shall pass,” applies to good times as well as bad. “My sons have seen the bittersweet of it, too,” he says. TP
Many of the employees are long timers.
The mill turned out 12MMBF in 2020.
Band saws are maintained in-house. TIMBER PROCESSING
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OPPORTUNITY FOR NA SAWMILLS Element5 starts up Ledinek cross-laminated timber line.
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edinek began assembly of the CLT line for the Canadian company Element5 at St. Thomas, Ontario in August 2020, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the unforeseen challenges arising from the pandemic, the highly automated, state-of-the-art manufacturing CLT line was installed, commissioned and certified on the project’s originally projected timeline. The fully integrated production line does everything—from lumber conditioning and fingerjointing of lam-stock to sanding and CNC machining of the finished components. The line also features Ledinek’s new Z-Press, which edge glues the panels and results in a superior appearance-grade finish free from cracks and gaps. With respect to CLT, the Ledinek XPress can produce various layups/thicknesses in sizes up to 16 m in length by 3.5 m in width. At 3.5 m, Element5 is now producing one of the widest panels in Canada. Mass timber projects will benefit from the design and material efficiencies this wider format panel provides including fewer panels, less lifting time,
and a reduced number of connections. The St. Thomas mass timber factory at full-scale production has an output capacity around 45,000 m³ per year. Element5 is producing under the ANSI/APA PRG 320-2019 Standard for PerformanceRated Cross-Laminated Timber. Certifi-
cation was obtained from PFS TECO of Cottage Grove, Wis. (USA) for the production of CLT. The whole project was marked by changed conditions due to the world health crisis. Nevertheless, excellent cooperation with Element5’s team and
CLT element on the way to the sanding unit
Ledinek X-Press produces 3.5 m width panel.
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Preparing a CLT cake
Multi-tray storage for longitudinal laminations.
Element5 CLT facility in Ontario
Ledinek’s partners made it possible to carry out the project according to plan. The first CLT panel was produced in December 2020. In the first half of 2021 the technical acceptance protocol was signed and test production and optimization of the line was completed. Chris Latour, V.P. Manufacturing Engineering at Element5, comments,“Our gratitude to the entire Ledinek team and their partners is profound. The installation team worked away from home for long periods to support us and found unique methods to cooperate and lead a local installation team to overcome the many obstacles faced this year. The dedication to highquality designs and well-engineered solu-
tions was paramount to the rapid installation startup and short testing period. Drago Pregl, Ledinek’s Project Manager, and the entire Ledinek team should be incredibly proud of this accomplishment and the high-quality systems that make Happy Ledinek team after first panel them the industry leader.” Cross-laminated timber production is in the atmosphere. Therefore, new proincreasingly becoming the greatest opjects in this field are getting heavy upportunity of the decade for the sawmill wind from state and local governments industry. CLT production has proved to by receiving strong financial support be much more energy saving compared and expanded demand for new commuto concrete and steel productions, not to nity building projects with CLT conTP mention its added value to environmenstruction technique. Article and images provided by Ledinek. tal sustainability by reduction of carbon TIMBER PROCESSING
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GLOBALMACHINERY EDITOR’S NOTE: The following companies submitted these editorial profiles and images to complement their advertisements placed elsewhere in this issue. Please refer to those advertisements for web site and contact information. All statements and claims are attributable to the companies.
BID GROUP With Comact in its brand portfolio, BID Group is the North American leader of optimization products with vision. Over the years, Comact products actively contributed to the technological advancement of the timber industry. It is therefore not surprising that the Comact GradExpert is the #1 grading optimizer in North America and that the brand has installed more than 225 optimizers with vision. In recent years, several members of our team specialized in Artificial Intelligence (AI) after a research and development phase that allowed us to conclude that this was the future of wood grading. The AI models used by Comact products were created in-house to ensure extremely high efficiency. Our AI in- BID Artificial Intelligence: benchmark for optimization ternal experts with a team of wood processing specialists educated the basic model and each system installed. In other words, the defect detection with AI models combined with the ultra-powerful optimization software is the equivalent of Comact’s wood specialists in your machine 24/7. AI allows defect identification with pixel precision. Since the AI system is well educated, it can recognize the different shades of visual defects like rot and knots that may vary considerably according to the origin of the wood, the species and the severity of the defect. Historically, the different shades were difficult to distinguish. Today, AI excels at identifying and dimensioning various shades. Thanks to the superiority of the Comact software structure, the new software platform based on AI was easily deployed on the full range of Comact optimization products with vision. Therefore, the EdgExpert edger optimizer with vision, as well as the TrimExpert trimming optimizer with vision also benefited from the developments on the GradExpert. The AI team was very satisfied with the AI performance on these high-speed applications where the environmental conditions are more challenging. BID’s AI platform will revolutionize the industry and establish new standards. In the short and medium term, our complete range of machines will benefit from the latest developments in applications that go beyond optimization. As a result, Comact will meet the client’s current and future needs in an outstanding manner and offer a return on investment unparalleled by competition. Stay tuned for BID Group’s innovations—this is only the beginning of the AI revolution!
MÜHLBÖCK Mühlböck has been developing and manufacturing lumber drying kilns in their own facility in Eberschwang, Austria for nearly 40 years, scoring globally with their batch and continuous kilns, belt dryers as well as various heat recovery systems. Because they still saw further potential in making the Progressive continuous kiln even more flexible than before, one of the latest innovations from the Austrian drying specialist is their Progressive kiln FLOW. Mühlböck explains the origin of this idea: “Many of our customers have noted that with the forklift transport in the yard and time consuming loading/unloading of the conventional kilns, the logistics of their modern sawmill and planer mill process is inEuropean kiln manufacturer delivers drying advantages to North America. terrupted. The Mühlböck unidirectional Progressive kilns ensure simple and fast loading and unloading, while the automatic transport system with buffer zones can eliminate the need for night shift forklift operation. And by combining these features with the drying quality of conventional batch kilns, due to the 4.0 industry-ready Mühlböck K5 drying control system, the Mühlböck Progressive FLOW fills in the logistic gap and increases productivity.” 34
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GLOBALMACHINERY MLTC BioEnergy Centre of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan has already decided on the most modern kiln drying technology to handle over 81MMBF of their NorSask Forest Products lumber per year. This sawmill has a one of a kind lumber cart transport system in operation with a unique loading and stacking process. In order to ensure proper interface between sawmill and kiln, as well as after drying from kiln to planer mill, Mühlböck custom designed the uni-directional continuous kiln for them. The installation of this Progressive 1306 FLOW kiln is currently in full swing, in cooperation between Mühlböck North America’s installation team and MLTC’s indigenous installers. One of the biggest cost factors in drying lumber is thermal energy, even with a biomass heating plant such as the one at MLTC BioEnergy Centre. The Progressive kiln’s automated door system, opening only a few times per day for a short time, ensures heat loss is greatly reduced, while the fully automatic transport system ensures output of large capacities of the highest quality lumber each and every cycle. But on top of that, with Mühlböck’s drying system 1306 that is available for every type of Mühlböck drying kiln, these costs are reduced by about 25%. So when PowerWood moved their Custom Cedar production to a new location in Agassiz, BC this summer, they, too, chose Mühlböck to deliver and install two new Heat Recovery 1306 batch kilns. This installation has just been completed and commissioned to the customer’s full satisfaction.
PRINZ The PRINZ Package Saw PC120 is excellent for high production business and fully automatic with no interrupting production. The entire PRINZ Package Saw PC120 is fully automated—the chain cross conveyors load the lumber into the feeding system in front of the saw, the lumber is squared, strapped, the loading bars will insert under the package. With precision cutting guidance on both sides of the saw, the PLC control system ensures maximum cutting accuracy of +-1mm (.040 in.), even at the maximum cutting output. Pneumatic pressure pads hold the stack down during the cutting process. The line comes delivered with waste removal, and pivoted roller table on either side of the saw allows easy disposal of longer wood rests. What makes the company unique is PRINZ produces the PRINZ Package Saw PC120 saw chains and guide bars in-house, making it possible to meet your requirements to cut any material. PRINZ cutting equipment is suitable for all other brand saws on the market. Scraper and chipper chains are available with a pitch of 15 and 20 mm in 2 and 3 mm thickness, and all lengths available. In addition, the guide bars are available in all lengths, too. Smith Sawmill Service is your North American PRINZ distributor: 800-598.6344.
TS MANUFACTURING TS Manufacturing is a family-owned manufacturing company about to celebrate their 50-year anniversary. They have become a sought-out supplier for sawmill and planer mill equipment due to their progressive vision and second-to-none after-sales service. Their success has come from always looking forward at customer needs and developing missing products or features that customers were looking for. Their allelectric servo stacker and automatic stick placer are two of their recent new products. When it comes to the global market, TS has been selling international projects for the last 30 years with installations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. One of the associated problems with international projects is after-sales support; in this area, TS has tackled that hurdle with great strides. First was their acquisition of New Zealand-based controls and optimization company Automation & Electronics, which also has a branch in Asheville, NC. A&E has been working in the wood industry for the last 35 years providing optimization, PLC controls and hardware for TS Mfg. Accu-Placer sawmills and planer mills, as well as PLC controls and hardware for dry kilns. To complement this new direction, TS hired a group of seasoned veterans of optimization and controls based in BC, Canada; and New Zealand agent MillRight Ltd. has greatly increased their international sales presence. These new acquisitions, partnerships and TIMBER PROCESSING
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GLOBALMACHINERY employees all in multiple time zones allow TS Mfg to offer worldwide support with machinery, controls and optimization with a one-call 24/7 support line. Increasing global visibility has been high on their list. Attending industry conventions and machinery expositions in Canada, the United States, Germany, Australia and New Zealand has given them opportunities to get in front of new potential customers and has resulted in new orders. TS Manufacturing offers a complete line of machinery, controls and software custom-designed to fit your mill.
USNR USNR is the world’s most comprehensive supplier of equipment and technologies to produce dimensional lumber, plywood, panels, finger-jointed components, and engineered wood products, supplying systems, service and support for plants around the globe. l Lumber handling and grade scanning with Deep Learning sold in Germany Holzwerk Schilling of Rot a.d. Rot, Germany upgraded its sawmill with BioVision side profile scanning and an ElectraTong Lug Loader. The all-electric ElectraTong Lug Loader offers excellent board control at high speeds and excels in random thickness applications. It’s infinitely tunable, featuring adjustable clamping pressure, and operating speeds up to 250+ lugs/min. BioVision scans exposed faces of sawn cants after sideboard removal to identify visual characteristics. This new cant “corewood” vision system sorts each cant for “high quality” or “low quality” downstream destinations. BioLuma USNR’s Multi-Track Fence is the world’s most popular, with more than 2900LV sensors detect knots and color variations for rot. It combines HD laser profiling and HD color vision into a sin160 units sold globally. gle sensor allowing USNR optimization to identify defects for accurate grade classification. Mercer Timber’s strategy to outfit its Friesau mill in Bad Lobenstein, Thyringia, Germany for the export market includes two dry mill THGs (4-sided scanning) and new trimmer lines using four Multi-Track fences. Mercer also installed two BioVision grading systems for its green mill using BioLuma 2900LVG+ sensors, the latest software platform, and Deep Learning technology. l Multi-Track fences sold in Sweden The Klentimmer sawmill Blyberg Timber in Blybergssågen, Sweden purchased a Multi-Track Fence positioning system. This best-selling system is all-electric (no hydraulics and no compressed air). It complements production lines that require high capacity and precise positioning, operating at speeds up to 250 lugs/min. Compact dimensions mean smooth installation into existing lines. It’s the second Multi-Track Fence in Sweden. Södra Wood Värö installed the first. l TransVerse High Grader sold in Czech Republic Pfeifer Holz of Chanovice, Czech Republic installed a Transverse High Grader (THG) to automate their grading process. The mill team is responsible for operating and maintaining the THG and recently attended system training. Advanced technology requires skilled technicians to handle daily operations and maintenance. USNR has a vast team of skilled technical specialists who install, service and support these systems.
COMING IN NOVEMBER DRY KILN TECHNOLOGIES ADVANCEMENTS IN DRY KILNS AND ACCESSORIES 36
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ANTHONY HAS SOLID GRIP ON LOGS
Doosan log loader and wheel loaders team up on SYP logs at Bearden. By Ryan Johnson BEARDEN, Ark. t’s another hot and humid summer day in Bearden. A fresh load of logs has just arrived at the Anthony Timberlands sawmill facility. A Doosan DX380LL-5 log loader operator eagerly awaits its entry. As David Bird, vice president of technical services, observes the goings-on, he explains that Anthony Timberlands was founded in 1907 and remains an independently owned, family owned business. Bearden is also the site for the corporate headquarters, which oversees multiple softwood and hardwood sawmills and timberlands in the state. At the company’s Bearden facility, as many as 200 loads of southern yellow pine logs arrive daily, and the sawmill uses between 120 and 135 loads a day. Logs are high-stacked and kept watered. “We cut it raw, we dry it, finish it in the planer mill and ship it out,” Bird says. “We average about 700,000 to 750,000 board feet a day.” Production includes radius-edge decking, patio decking, 2 in. dimension lumber and small timbers. Employees operate a fleet of raw material handling equipment, including a Doosan DX380LL-5 log loader and
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Doosan wheel loaders. The machines unload the incoming logs, then high stack them and load them into the mill. David Whitson works for Bird in the company’s technical services department, helping to oversee the fleet at the pine sawmill. In 2018, the company tried its first Doosan machine and has since expanded its use of the heavy equipment brand. “Being in the equipment business, we’re always looking at new equipment; what’s out there, what’s available,” Whitson says. “We had seen the Doosan machines around and got interested in them. Looking at the equipment, it is built well. They are very strong machines. They are equivalent to any of the top-tier equipment makers. It’s been a good investment for us. As far as the machine’s operator side, the log loaders have great visibility. There’s no blind spots or anything if you’re operating. And they have good protection, which we like.”
WORKHORSE The company puts about 4,000 hours a year on its DX380LL-5 log loader. It stays busy unloading logs from trucks and sorting and stacking them. Operators
use the machine’s grapple and heel together to precisely lift the logs, stack them and position them in areas where the wheel loaders can easily access them. A 312 HP diesel engine powers the log loader. The machine has a reach of 43 ft., 4 in., and a loading height of 38 ft., 5 in. “We use the Doosan log loader here to do high stacking,” Bird says. “This is one of the highest stacking machines we have. The machine is strong and it’s comfortable.” For enhanced durability, the DX380LL5 includes guards along the front, side, arm cylinder and boom cylinder. Standard LED lights help operators when they are working early in the morning or late in the evening. A 4 ft. cab riser gives operators an enhanced view of the area, and inside the cab the operators can activate a rearview camera from the LCD screen. High swing torque and long reach are two key characteristics of the DX380LL5. The machine can quickly pick, move or place heavy loads. And operators can increase productivity by selecting their preferred operating style from a pattern change valve, which eliminates the hassle with hydraulic hoses. Operators can choose from three modes to balance productivity and fuel consumption. Standard mode is ideal for
Doosan DX380LL-5 track log loader combines high reach and maneuverability. 40
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optimizing fuel consumption and general working conditions. Power mode is designed for faster cycle times and heavyduty work requirements. Economy mode helps lower fuel consumption in reduced-demand applications. In addition to the DX380LL-5, the company operates DL550-5 and DL2505 wheel loaders at the Bearden sawmill. Anthony Timberlands purchased the Doosan machines from Equipment Incorporated. Whitson has been impressed with the equipment and the customer service from the dealer and the sales specialist at the company’s branch in Texarkana, Texas.
TELEMATICS You don’t stay in business for more than 100 years without evolving and embracing technology. One of the latest technologies implemented at Anthony Timberlands is the DoosanCONNECT Telematics system. Whitson can easily access the system from his iPhone and check the location and the status of the company’s Doosan equipment. “It lets me know the health of all of our machines and if they’re currently running,” Whitson says. “If I do get a
Doosan wheel loaders pick up where the log loader leaves off.
fault code, a lot of times I’ll know it before the operator or even the mill managers will know about it. It gives me the chance to get somebody there if we need to if it’s a serious enough code. It is one of the most valuable tools we have.” Doosan Infracore North America, LLC, based in Suwanee, Ga., markets the Doosan brand of products that includes crawler excavators, wheel excava-
tors, mini excavators, wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks, material handlers, log loaders and attachments. Doosan has more than 160 equipment dealer locations in North America. TP Article and images provided by Doosan Infracore North America. Visit na.Doosan Equipment.com. Ryan Johnson is Manager, Strategic Communications, Two Rivers Marketing.
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NEW POSITION SYSTEM ENHANCES RESAW Smart Gate with RMC150 improves precision and productivity at recent installation. By Brad Smith
W
hen a log first enters a hardwood sawmill, it is debarked and frequently sawed into a long, square 24 in. block. The block then makes its way to a vertical resaw. An operator feeds the block past a saw blade, shaving off a board of desired width. The board comes off the line while the block remainder cycles back around to travel through the resaw again. In this way, the block gets whittled down until entirely converted into boards. When done on conventional vertical resaws, though, this process can be very hard on the machinery. The block moves past the saw blade through a narrow channel, with a movable linebar on one side and a series of three press rolls on the other. The press rolls move into position to press against the block, keeping it flush against the linebar for straight cuts. Traditional vertical resaws adjust press roll positions with pressurized air cylinders. Depending on the width of the block as it approaches, press rolls might have to travel 20 in. as quickly as possible to close the gap with the block and force it against the linebar. Because of the weight of the block, the
cylinders’ high pressure, and time demands of the resaw line, it’s common for the block to smash into the linebar. This happens time after time, year after year, until the resaw can no longer be repaired. Back in 1988, Salem Equipment helped to install just such a resaw at one of its client’s mills. The machine had plenty of life left in it but desperately needed an upgrade to this critical part of its workflow. The client already had a motion controller in its system, but it needed more. Salem Equipment turned to Delta Computer Systems and its RMC150 motion controller. Salem Equipment developed its first bandmill and resaw line in 1951, five years after its founding. In the time since, Salem recognized a need for serial controls in lumber machining tools, but no such thing existed at the time—so the company created them. This desire to innovate and consistently improve on its sawmill equipment, generation after generation, ultimately led Salem’s controls and hydraulic specialist Kevin Eberhardt to Delta. He knew that the traditional air pressure approach to vertical resaws lacked the functionality and precision needed to evolve the tool’s performance and durability. One key issue was the constant variabil-
ity of block width with each pass. One block might be 24 in. wide, the next 6 in., and the next anything in between. To cope with this variability under the original resaw design, air cylinders were open or closed. Air pressure needed to remain constantly high to make contact with the block and press it to the linebar in the shortest time. Moreover, that pressure had to keep the block solidly in position against the linebar as it moved past the saw. “Say I know the block width is 12 inches and I’m using a standard servo cylinder, which will be position-driven,” notes Eberhardt. “If I tell the press roll to go to 12 inches and my measurement is slightly off, there’s no way to make sure that I’m fully up against it unless I continue to drive towards that linebar. And when you do that, you end up over-pressuring.” With a move to hydraulics backed by the Delta RMC150, though, things changed. Because block width can be detected with a sensor, press roll positions can be pre-staged. In other words, the rollers can be advanced to a position very close to where the block edge will be just in time for its arrival. (Eberhardt notes that a 2 in. distance is often optimal.) For example, if the resaw detects a
On the sawline, white line-up rollers align to orient the block for feeding between the Smart Gate’s press rolls and linebar (located behind the block shown at center). 44
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Salem Equipment’s new Smart Gate resaw positioner—the yellow and orange elements are press rolls that hold the block against the linebar.
12 in. block approaching, it can position the press roll waiting 14 in. from the linebar, so it only needs a nudge to close the gap. Once the block exits, it only retreats to its pre-staged position, not completely open, and the pre-staging process can begin again for the upcoming block. However, position is only half of the process. Salem Equipment installed MTS Temposonics position transducers in the cylinders and Bosch pressure transducers to sense cylinder pressure. By integrating with Delta’s RMC150, Salem’s team could monitor position and pressure simultaneously in real time. In the above situation, that 12 in. block would approach, and the press roll would pre-stage to 14 in. As the block rolls through, the press roll clamps down to 12 in. The RMC commands the cylinder to go to zero against the linebar, but if a given amount of pressure (250 lbs., for example) is detected, stop and maintain that pressure until the block exits. The ability to control position and pressure with microsecond-level accuracy through the RMC150 made all the difference, and so, through this client upgrade, Salem Equipment created its new Smart Gate offering.
NO GUESSWORK Smart Gate was not Salem Equipment’s first attempt at using a servo cylinder in this way. In a prior effort, the company kept pressure at roughly 1800 psi until the block entered the cut, whereupon pump pressure would drop to 200 lbs. at the valve. However, position control with Salem’s then-current RMC
was extremely hard to control. Eberhardt states that not until Salem implemented Delta’s RMC150 did they have an effective solution. The RMC150 supports up to eight motion axes, of which Salem Equipment used five in its resaw design. One controls the linebar position. A second syncs with the first axis to control a series of line-up rollers that align to the linebar. The remaining three axes link to three 6 in. cylinders mounted on a pivot that controls the press roll position, which can achieve a full 24 in. open. “Because I know what the pressure is on each side of the piston, we can take the differential and calculate how much force is being applied,” Eberhardt says. “If you were to do this in a PLC, it would be very complicated, because there’s so many things happening at once. PLCs would have a lot harder time trying to get your position and then maintain a pressure with any real accuracy. The RMC150 runs considerably faster than a PLC would ever process that.” Salem Equipment also found the software tools that accompany Delta RMCs made development and deployment remarkably easy. Delta’s pre-installed tools and plots streamlined troubleshooting, including providing an event log to see step by step how the RMC handles PLC instructions. Delta had already provided a host of shortcuts, such as automatically calculating applied force from transducer input and handling scaling through RMC wizards available in an intuitive graphical menu interface. Additionally, Eberthardt notes that both the help files and Delta’s tech support “is by
far better than anybody I’ve ever dealt with—and I’ve been doing this for 20 years. If I don’t understand it, or if I want to do something a little different, they’re real good at helping me.”
PERFORMANCE Salem Equipment’s client often wanted to feed 300 block feet per minute. With the old resaw system, when an operator saw that a block wasn’t flush with the linebar, he would have to slow the line to give the block time to get square. Now, with the precision of the RMC150 and its position force control capability, there’s far less need to command speed changes. The operator can then spend his time confirming that he’s cutting on the right face and getting the right grade out of the log. In throughput terms, Salem’s client typically got eight block cuts per minute. With the new Delta-driven Smart Gate system, the client sped up to 10 or 11 cuts per minute—at least a 25% improvement in productivity. “With our new Smart Gate system our customer drastically improved performance as well as the overall maintenance of their line,” Eberhardt explains. “And with the Delta controller, I can see uses well beyond what we’re using it for the sawmill industry. There are a lot of areas where we can use it, pretty much any machine with press rolls. This will help Salem Equipment continue to innovate and do what we do best.” TP Article and images provided by Delta Computer Systems and Salem Equipment. Brad Smith is Regional Sales Manager for Delta Computer Systems Inc. TIMBER PROCESSING
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PRODUCTSCANNER10 LOG MERCHANDISER USNR has enhanced its comprehensive offerings of sawmill equipment with a new timber (log) merchandising system. The merchandiser system is designed to cut up logs according to an optimized solution. The merchandiser comes in lineal and transverse configurations and offers a fully integrated solution to maximize the value and volume recovery from each log.
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USNR touts its vast experience with technology for integrating the mechanical, PLC controls, and optimization of the bucking process as second to none. The complete solution includes a debarker, infeed conveyor, timber kickers, timber pusher, inclined lug chain conveyor, traveling saw carriages, and outfeed belt conveyor. The merchandiser is composed of several pivoting circular saws, each mounted on a saw carriage. Carriages position the saws along the length of the merchandiser, using the optimized solution to recover the optimum value and volume from each log. Each saw is powered by a stationary motor located on the saw carriage. After the carriage has reached its opti-
mized location, the saw is lowered and the log is pushed through the stationary, spinning saw. A series of rollers support the weight of the carriage assembly and limit side to side motion keeping the carriage running straight. Kickers provide rapid, smooth operation to kick the logs off lineal conveyors toward the merchandiser or decks. The kickers are pivoting steel paddles that kick out from the flush conveyor wall to push the wood off the conveyor. A shaftmounted reducer with a crank arm actuates the pivoting action which provides quick and smooth operation as well the ability to control the actuation speed throughout the kicker stroke. USNR’s new Pinnacle Feeder comes in two configurations for logs. Both are dualaction step feeders that smoothly and consistently singulate and feed logs to the outfeed conveyor for transport to the merchandiser. Neither will deliver a log to the AR Conveyor until the previous stem has cleared the landing area on the AR Conveyor. These heavy-duty units are designed for reliable, long-term performance. The Timber Pusher is an all-electric re-
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PRODUCTSCANNER10 ciprocating pusher that accurately locates the leading end of a log that has been kicked into the merchandiser push pocket. It’s an important part of USNR’s fully integrated merchandising system, designed to ensure the cut locations do not coincide with the lugged chains. The foundation of excellent optimization is excellent scanning. The Lasar2 sensor is a unique and rugged, full-coverage high-resolution 3D scanner that is
ideal for transverse deck bucking applications and close-coupled sawing systems. Immune to high levels of ambient light, Lasar2 rapidly scans logs and stems with unparalleled resolution and data density. Lasar2 is ideal for transverse deck bucking applications, as well as carriages, enddogs, and close-coupled sawing systems. The new BioLuma 3900L scanning sensor delivers the highest speed UHD laser profiling for the most demanding
lineal applications. This new sensor is sawmill-ready, easy to install, and easy to maintain. It uses modern componentry and system architecture, taking advantage of recent advances in the speed and reliability of electronics hardware. USNR’s Bucking Optimizer features full 3D modeling capabilities to let you capture the maximum value from every stem. It is fully customizable to fit your needs and offers more features and functionality. It completely models downstream machine centers and is capable of removing waste pieces from the middle of the stem, modeling fixed pattern breakdown, and managing configurable routing codes for log sorts. Visit usnr.com.
JDLINK PLATFORM John Deere is improving the ability for customers to maximize machine performance and uptime through updates to the JDLink platform. Customers no longer need to renew their JDLink connectivity service subscription and can enable their JDLink service on any compatible machine in their organization at no additional charge. Additionally, once customers enable JDLink connectivity, they can select to automatically activate all future JDLink compatible models, further streamlining fleet management. With this update to the JDLink service offering, it is easier than ever before for customers to maximize machine productivity and minimize downtime. Available on most new models, John Deere’s JDLink telematics solution delivers valuable fleet insights directly into the hands of the machine owner or fleet manager. The JDLink service enables customers access to vital data, such as machine location and utilization, time in idle, fuel level, upcoming maintenance, machine alerts, and more, all from a web or mobile platform. Beyond machine monitoring, the JDLink solution also enables John Deere Connected Support, enabling the dealer to remotely identify critical issues and take action minimizing potential downtime or by remotely sending software payloads to ensure the machine is running efficiently. Visit johndeere.com. 48
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MACHINERYROW
John Deere, Hitachi End Joint Venture
John Deere announced it has agreed with Hitachi Construction Machinery to end the Deere-Hitachi joint venture manufacturing and marketing agreements. John Deere and Hitachi will enter into new license and supply agreements, which will enable John Deere to continue to source, manufacture and distribute the current lineup of Deere-branded excavators in the Americas. As a result of the new agreements, the following changes will go into effect on February 28, 2022: —John Deere will acquire the DeereHitachi joint-venture factories in Kernersville, NC; Indaiatuba, Brazil; and Langley, BC, Can. —John Deere will continue to manufacture Deere-branded construction and forestry excavators currently produced at the three Deere-Hitachi factories. These locations will discontinue production of Hitachi-branded excavators. John Deere will continue to offer a full portfolio of excavators through a supply agreement with Hitachi. —John Deere’s marketing arrangement for Hitachi-branded construction excavators and mining equipment in the Americas will end; Hitachi will assume distribution and support for these products. “For many years John Deere and Hitachi enjoyed a mutually successful partnership in the Americas,” comments John Stone, president, John Deere Con-
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struction & Forestry Div. and Power Systems. “As we turn the page to a new chapter of Deere-designed excavators, we remain committed to supporting our customers of today and tomorrow.” John Deere and Hitachi began a supply relationship in the early 1960s; then in 1988 the companies started the DeereHitachi manufacturing joint venture to produce excavators in Kernersville. In 1998, Deere-Hitachi expanded the relationship to include the production of forestry swing machines at Deere-Hitachi Specialty Products in Langley. In 2001, John Deere and Hitachi combined their marketing and distribution efforts in the Americas. In 2011, excavator manufacturing was expanded with the addition of the Deere-Hitachi Brazil factory in Indaiatuba.
Microtec Collaborates With Japan’s Suzuko Microtec, a global leader of scanning and optimization solutions for the sawmilling and wood processing industry, announced the official integration and inclusion of FinScan and WoodEye within the Microtec family, working under the common corporate brand of Microtec. In the context of this new branding strategy, Microtec has chosen Suzuko Co., Ltd. as the new distribution and sales partner for the Japanese market. “We believe that with Suzuko we found a trustworthy partner that will help us distributing our products in Japan in the
best way possible,” states Arianna Giudiceandrea, CSO of Microtec. “The demand for automatic sorting process will increase in glulam, CLT and the sawmill market in Japan. Microtec Group is the best partner for Suzuko in this field. I hope that we can contribute as much as possible to the growth of the Japanese woodworking industry,” confirms Masato Ushiba, CEO of Suzuko CO., Ltd. Microtec and Suzuko planned to participate at Mokkiten, the Japan fair for the woodworking and environmental industry taking place at Nagoya from October 7-10.
Binderholz Implements Solutions From Trimble Binderholz is implementing Trimble Forestry’s LIMS and WeighWiz solutions for its newly acquired sawmill location in Live Oaks, Fla. Binderholz acquired the assets of Klausner Lumber One in Florida and most recently Klausner Lumber Two in North Carolina. With these two acquisitions, Binderholz expands outside of Europe for the first time. Trimble Forestry acquired 3LOG in 2019, adding LIMS and WeighWiz to its Connected Forest Business portfolio. The acquisition expands Trimble Forestry’s Connected Forest solutions, which offer a complete end-to-end ecosystem for forest management, traceability, and timber processing. LIMS is a widely used log account-
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MACHINERYROW ing and contracting system. LIMS provides management control over all phases of timberland, woodland, yard and mill operations. WeighWiz is an advanced weigh scale application. WeighWiz can operate in attended mode or unattended mode for peak times when there is no weigh master available. It records information entered by the truck driver or your company weigh master and captures readings from the weigh scale equipment. WeighWiz can operate on a single scale platform functioning as both the weigh-in and weigh-out scale. It can also control dedicated weigh-in and weigh-out scales.
Neiman Continues Upgrades At Gilchrist Neiman Enterprises is continuing its investments at its Gilchrist Forest Products sawmill in Gilchrist, Ore. to bring it up to world-class standards, in line with Neiman’s other mills in Hulett, WY, Spearfish, SD, and Montrose, CO. Neiman is now adding an 8 in. Horizontal Shape Saw (HSS), a clamshellstyle trimmer, a Transverse High Grader (THG) automated grading system with Deep Learning AI, and additions to its existing tray sorter, all from USNR. Earlier this year Neimann began implementation at Gilchrist of new trimmer optimization with BioLuma 2900L scanning system, end-dog carriage optimization, and a new Stick-N-Fork stacker, again from USNR. ● USNR also reported debarker orders from two mills in the Gausdal Bruvoll group of companies in Norway. GB Fåvang Sag is adding a Cambio 680 together with a Cam Trail outfeed module. This new debarker will replace a Cambio 66 which has served the mill for many years. GB Gran Tre AS has ordered a Cambio 680 debarker to replace a Cambio 66. The Gran Tre Cambio comes with a CIM 750 infeed conveyor.
Hyundai Integrates Doosan Infracore Following the sale completed in midAugust of Doosan Infracore to Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. (HHIH), Doosan Infracore becomes a subsidiary of the newly created Hyundai Genuine (HG) group alongside Hyundai Construction Equipment (HCE) as two independent construction equipment compa52
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nies under HHIH. HG will act as the intermediary company of HHIH Group’s construction equipment businesses and will be leading both DI and HCE to maximize the company’s efforts and focus on the construction equipment industry. The plan is to manage overlapping investments and invest heavily in future technologies and innovation. Doosan Infracore will be working to commercialize Concept-X and develop cutting-edge products such as electric excavators, battery packs, hybrid fuel cells and other next-generation products. Doosan Infracore North America, LLC, headquartered in Suwanee, Ga., markets the Doosan brand of products that includes crawler excavators, wheel excavators, mini excavators, wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks, material handlers, log loaders and attachments. Doosan has more than 160 equipment dealer locations in North America.
Power Equipment Adds Komatsu in Arkansas Power Equipment Co., based in Knoxville, Tenn., has been appointed the authorized Komatsu distributor in Arkansas. The territory will be served by existing authorized Komatsu branches in Little Rock, Ark. and Springdale, Ark. Power Equipment is a member of the Bramco family of companies, one of the oldest and largest privately held equipment dealers in North America, and the Komatsu dealer for Tennessee, northern Mississippi and southwest Virginia. Power Equipment is solely focused on the distribution, support and service of heavy equipment. Power Equipment will operate out of the existing H&E Equipment Services facilities in Little Rock and Springdale, retaining all current distribution business employees at these branches.
Acquisition Merges Nortrax, Schmidt Fernandez Holdings, Inc., which owns a diverse portfolio of businesses, including 57 John Deere Ag and Turf dealerships in the Northeast and South Central U.S., has acquired 14 John Deere Construction and Forestry stores—nine locations from Nortrax, Inc. in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, and five stores in Massachusetts from Schmidt Equipment Inc. The business operates as United Construction & Forestry, LLC.
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ATLARGE
Westervelt Strengthens Management Team The Westervelt Co., based in Tuscaloosa, Ala., announced new officers and leadership changes that position the company to build on and expand its decadeslong commitment to sustainability. Effective January 1, Cade Warer is appointed to the newly created position of Chief Sustainability Officer and will lead sustainability efforts across the corporation. This appointment ensures the company’s long held commitment to sustainability will evolve and expand into the future, and continue to perpetuate Westervelt’s culture of excellence. “For generations the people of Westervelt understood the connections between the wise use of natural resources, service to our communities and enduring business success focused on the highest ethical standards,” comments President and CEO Brian Luoma. “For us, the term sustainability represents a cultural value, and a commitment to sustaining excellence in everything we do. Cade will ensure we continue to operate in a way that not only upholds that commitment, but takes it to a whole new level in the future.” Dave Donaldson is promoted to Vice President and General Manager, Forest Resources, effective January 1, 2022. He will be promoted into the role held by Jim King, who recently announced his retirement after a 40-year career with the company. “Jim’s career at Westervelt has been remarkable, and has shaped our Forest Resources business to be known as one of the best in the country,” Luoma comments. “Dave has been with Westervelt for 26 years, and has worked closely with Jim over the last several years as he’s managed our Woodlands division.” Travis Hemmen is promoted to Director and General Manager, Westervelt Ecological Services, and President of WES LLC, effective January 1, 2022. He will replace Greg Sutter as the business leader of WES, following Sutter’s retirement at the end of 2021. Hemmen and the Westervelt Ecological Services business will report to Cade Warner. “Greg was absolutely instrumental in building the WES business over the past 15 years and growing it into an industry leader,” Luoma says. “Travis is prepared to take over leadership of WES, and working with Cade, they will continue building on the success of the past 15 years.” 54
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NEWSFEED SLB, USDA ENHANCE COLLABORATION Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that builds upon the existing collaborative relationship between the SLB and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA). Under the MOU and effective immediately, SLB and USDA expand a public-private partnership that seeks to grow demand for wood products as natural climate solutions. The organizations will jointly explore and coordinate additional market development, research, technological advances, and other activities to expand the use of wood in the built environment. “Since signing the original MOU in 2015, SLB and USDA have proudly worked
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together on many notable initiatives to promote and grow markets for softwood lumber in residential, commercial and multifamily construction. We look forward to continued collaboration and cooperation for the benefit of the entire softwood lumber industry,” explains Caroline Dauzat, Owner of Rex Lumber and
SLB Board Chair. “Together, we’re working to accelerate the adoption of innovative wood building system solutions through strategic investments and partnerships in training and support of educational opportunities for construction professionals, sawmills in regions that have lost infrastructure, carbon and
Softwood Lumber Board is going strong.
climate change resources, and the continued joint funding of WoodWorks.” Through increased partnerships and co-funding of joint initiatives, SLB and USDA will achieve shared goals and objectives and deliver them at a rate that is more efficient and effective than working separately. Key initiatives to accelerate adoption of innovative wood building solutions include: —Continuing joint funding of WoodWorks, a free provider of education and technical support related to the design, engineering and construction of commercial and multifamily wood buildings in the U.S. —Promoting carbon-sequestering wood as a means to mitigate climate change through responsible material selection. —Developing initiatives to expand understanding of em-
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NEWSFEED bodied carbon, life cycle assessments, and the connection to forest management and wood construction. —Creating events to expand connections with large corporations who can use wood products to meet their sustainability goals. —Supporting university and young professional education programs by highlighting the benefits of forests and forest products and how to design and
build with them. —Establishing support programs for real estate developers and owners by removing or addressing market barriers to using wood products in new market segments. —Exploring strategies and connections to sawmill investment for locations that have lost infrastructure. “Transforming buildings from carbon emitters to carbon sinks by incorporating
sustainably harvested and produced wood products from public and private timberlands benefits the environment and the economy more effectively than many other climate solutions currently available,” says Cees de Jager, SLB President and CEO.
WESTERN FP HAS POSITIVE OUTLOOK Western Forest Products Inc. has completed the sale of certain properties, including the Somass sawmill site, to the City of Port Alberni, British Columbia, for $5.3 million. With the completion of the sale, the company announced the permanent closure of its Somass sawmill. The sawmill was indefinitely curtailed in July 2017 in response to the lack of log supply to operate the mill efficiently. With operations and employees located primarily on the coast of British Columbia and Washington State, Western has a lumber capacity in excess of 1 billion BF from seven sawmills and four remanufacturing facilities. In the second quarter the company reported it has approximately $10 million in strategic capital projects underway in BC, and it continues to evaluate opportunities to invest in the competitive positioning of its value-added operations. Long-term, the company believes that strong North American housing market fundamentals will support lumber demand and pricing, above trend levels into the future. Low mortgage interest rates, an aging housing stock, a housing deficit stemming from years of underbuilding, and the influence of work-from-home arrangements on the repair and renovation segment are expected to continue to drive growing demand for lumber. At the same time supply has been reduced due to the impact of permanent production curtailments resulting from the Mountain Pine Beetle in the BC Interior. In addition, Western expects that growth in mass timber building technologies, the need for carbon neutral products and improved recognition of lumber as the most sustainable building product on the planet will grow demand and benefit the forest sector long-term. Western expensed $10.8 million of export duties on its lumber shipments into the U.S. in the second quarter, as compared to $7.6 million in the same period last year.
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WOOD PRODUCTS MARKETPLACE NORTH AMERICA
■ Minnesota
■ North Carolina
■ Canada ■ Ontario Buyers & Wholesalers We produce quality 4/4 - 8/4 Appalachian hardwoods • Red Oak, White Oak, Poplar •
Green Lumber: Air Dried, Kiln Dried Timbers & Crossties
• Hickory, Sycamore, Beech, Gum & Elm • Custom Cut Timbers: Long lengths and wide widths
Sales/Service: 336-746-5419
336-746-6177 (Fax) • www.kepleyfrank.us
■ Tennessee
STACKING STICKS
FOR SALE
Next closing: January 5, 2022
AIR-O-FLOW profiled & FLAT sticks available Imported & Domestic
■ United States
DHM Company - Troy, TN 38260 731-446-4069 Fax: 707-982-7689 email: kelvin@kilnsticks.com www.KILNSTICKS.com
■ Georgia Beasley Forest Products, Inc. P.O. Box 788 Hazlehurst, GA 31539
beasleyforestproducts.com Manufactures Kiln-Dried 4/4 Red and White Oak, Poplar, Ash and Cypress Contact: Linwood Truitt Phone (912) 253-9000 / Fax: (912) 375-9541 linwood.truitt@beasleyforestproducts.com
Pallet components, X-ties, Timbers and Crane Mats Contact: Ray Turner Phone (912) 253-9001 / Fax: (912) 375-9541 ray.turner@beasleyforestproducts.com
■ Kentucky HAROLD WHITE LUMBER, INC. MANUFACTURER OF FINE APPALACHIAN HARDWOODS
(606) 784-7573 • Fax: (606) 784-2624 www.haroldwhitelumber.com
Ray White
Domestic & Export Sales rwhite@haroldwhitelumber.com Cell: (606) 462-0318
Green & Kiln Dried, On-Site Export Prep & Loading Complete millworks facility, molding, milling & fingerjoint line
WANT TO GET YOUR AD IN OUR NEXT MARKETPLACE? Call or email Melissa McKenzie 334-834-1170 melissa@hattonbrown.com 08/21
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Call Toll-Free: 1-800-669-5613
EMPLOYENTOPPORTUNITIES Recruiting Services
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Executive – Managerial – Technical - Sales
JOHN GANDEE
& ASSOCIATES, INC Contingency or Retained Search Depending on Circumstances / Needs
“Your Success Is Our Business” Serving the Wood Products and Building Materials Industries For more than 26 years.
Top Wood Jobs
512-795-4244
Recruiting and Staffing George Meek
Call or Email me anytime! john@johngandee.com www.johngandee.com
Austin, Texas
geo@TopWoodJobs.com www.TopWoodJobs.com (360) 263-3371
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LUMBERWORKS n LUMBERWORKS GREENWOOD KILN STICKS Importers and Distributors of Tropical Hardwood Kiln Sticks GW Industries www.gwi.us.com
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“The lowest cost per cycle”
Dennis Krueger 866-771-5040
Jackie Paolo 866-504-9095
greenwoodimportsllc@gmail.com
jackie@gwi.us.com
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MAINEVENTS NOVEMBER 8-9—Lumber Quality and Process Control Workshop, Scottish Rite Center, Salem, Ore. Call 541-752-2751; visit lumberquality.com. 10-11—Lumber Quality Leadership Workshop. Lumber Quality Institute, Scottish Rite Center, Salem, Ore. Call 541752-2751; visit lumberquality.com. 10-12—Forestry Association of South Carolina annual meeting, Hyatt Regency, Greenville, SC. Call 803-798-4170; visit scforestry.org. 30-December 3—Woodex, 17th International Exhibition of Equipment and Technologies for Woodworking and Furniture Production, Crocus Expo, Moscow, Russia. Visit woodexpo.ru.
DECEMBER 3-6—BIFA WOOD Vietnam, Binh Duong Convention, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam. Call +84 274 222 1735; visit bifawoodvietnam.com. 11-14—WMF: Shanghai International Furniture Machinery & Woodworking Machinery Fair, National Exhibition and Convention Center, Shanghai, China. Call (852) 2516 3518; visit woodworkfair.com. 28-31—Furniture China 2021, Shanghai New International Expo Center, Pudong, Shanghai, China. Call +86-2164371178; visit furniture-china.cn/en-us.
FEBRUARY 2022 24-28—IndiaWood 2022, Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, Bangalore, India. Call +91-80-4250 5000; visit indiawood.com.
MARCH 2022 15-17—Dubai Woodshow, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Call +971 4 39 23232; visit dubaiwoodshow.com. 16-18—2022 SLMA & SFPA Spring Meeting & Expo, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, La. Call 504-443-4464; visit slma.org. 29-30—Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 334-834-1170; visit bioenergyshow.com. 29-April 1—Fimma-Maderalia 2022, Feria Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Visit fimma-maderalia.feriavalencia.com/en. 31-April 1—Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE), Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 334-834-1170; visit pelice-expo.com.
MAY 2022 15-17—American Wood Protection Assn. annual meeting, 62
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Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, S.C. Call 205-733-4077; visit awpa.com. 20-21—Expo Richmond 2022, Richmond Raceway Complex, Richmond, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit exporichmond.com.
AUGUST 2022 23-26—IWF 2022, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 404-693-8333; visit iwfatlanta.com.
SEPTEMBER 2022 28-30—Timber Processing & Energy Expo, Portland Expo Center, Portland, Ore. Call 334-834-1170; visit timberprocessingandenergyexpo.com. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.
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This issue of Timber Processing is brought to you in part by the following companies, which will gladly supply additional information about their products. ADVERTISER A W Stiles Contractors American Wood Dryers Arrow Speed Controls Automation & Electronics USA BID Group Biolube Calibre Equipment Carbotech International Cone Omega Delta Computer Systems Easy-Laser Esterer WD GmbH FiberPro G F Smith Gilbert Products Halco Software Systems Holtec USA JoeScan Johnson & Pace Ledinek Engineering Linck Linden Fabricating Lucidyne-Microtec McDonough Manufacturing Mebor Metal Detectors Mid-South Engineering Muhlbock Holztrocknungsanlagen Nelson Bros Engineering Oleson Saw Technology Porter Engineering Prinz GmbH Saw Add Sennebogen Sering Sawmill Machinery Serra/Wintersteiger Signode SII Dry Kilns Springer Maschinenfabrik GmbH T S Manufacturing Telco Sensors Timber Automation USNR Vecoplan Wood Fiber Group Wood-Mizer
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